Tag Archives: VC

‘Entreception’ = Entrepreneurs + Inception can be the new Bible of Success!

Posted on August 5, 2010 by Rodinhood

One of the biggest dangers of entrepreneurship is that you fall in love with what you are doing and even when events turn ugly, you refuse to ‘wake up’. Like in the movie Inception, you have to watch out for Mal. Else your dream will become your death…
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Posted in Experiences, Internet, Media, Mobile and Tech, Start-Up, VC & Corporate Stuff | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

What Entrepreneurs must learn from Fashion Models!

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Rodinhood

One day, when I was on my regular ‘contest begging’ trips, I was stunned when the brand manager of Liril Soaps (a Unilever Company product) said, ‘Alok, don’t harass me. We make soaps here – not contests. If you like contests so much, why don’t you make them and pitch them to me, rather than the other way around’……. On introspection, it was so clear why the games succeeded in China – with no mass entertainment options available (TV and films are state controlled) and very cold weather, Chinese teens were happy to lock themselves into gaming dens and play away for hours non stop. On the other hand, in India, with 3 bollywood movies releasing a week; 500 channels on TV and very warm and ambient weather, teems cared a damn to sit in suffocating game parlors and play online games with silly dragons and elves Continue reading →

Posted in Experiences, Start-Up, VC & Corporate Stuff | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Value lies in the eyes of the beholder..

Posted on February 21, 2010 by rodinhood

Neeraj immediately called Ranga in my presence and began an interesting conversation – Do you deal with c2w? How is their work? Do you like the team? He then asked – why don’t you pay them? Ranga replied something that made him get up and walk out of the room. A few minutes later he came back. Continue reading →

Posted in Experiences | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Children need to fall to grow up..

Posted on February 21, 2010 by rodinhood

Situation: 2001 dot com bust. At contests2win.com, we had 2 months of cash left to survive. I was desperate. I knew I had a great idea and had to ride out this storm. So I assembled my core team and … Continue reading →

Posted in Experiences | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Our Clients are our VC’s..

Posted on February 21, 2010 by rodinhood

Situation: 2003 – Post dot com bust. My co-founder GK (Gopala Krishnan) and I had launched a mobile business called mobile2win in China and India and were gaining solid traction. We had been awarded the Indian Idol business by Sony … Continue reading →

Posted in Experiences, Start-Up, VC & Corporate Stuff | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Guess who fooled the Ad Agencies?

Posted on November 26, 2009 by rodinhood

Whenever I see the success of Vodafone’s Zoozoos being celebrated or the iconic advertising that almost created brands from scratch (like Onida), I am bewildered about the context of the celebration. It’s almost feverishly praising the ‘idea’ and its execution … Continue reading →

Posted in Start-Up, VC & Corporate Stuff | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

5 Questions for Mr. Shubhiksha

Posted on February 21, 2009 by rodinhood

I am really pi**** at the way Mr. Subramanian is conducting himself. I seriously believe that his actions and representations to the media jeopardize the fragile  VC-Start Up’s ecosystem that is being built in India. Unless some serious corporate governance action is … Continue reading →

Posted in Start-Up, VC & Corporate Stuff | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments